Page 10 of Secrets and Ruin

“Huh? What are you doing here?” he asked when he saw me.

“She’s with me,” Heath called, heading towards us. “She’s joining me on my rounds.”

“Ah…” Fenris nodded, looking at Heath for only a second before staring intently at me. “Is this where I have to be polite and invite you inside for drinks?”

“Do you not want me at your house?” I asked, frowning a little, but I kept something teasing in my tone. He was at my house fairly often, but this was my first time at his. “Are you afraid I’m going to break something? Or perhaps I’ll make asinine comments about your choices in furniture. Or art. Or—”

“Yeah, yeah, I fuckin’ get it,” Fenris grumbled, but he couldn’t turn away before I saw him smile. “Damn cat.”

“I’ve heard that turnabout is fair play,” I said, chuckling. “What if we just sit on the porch? I don’t need to go inside.”

“I like that.” Fenris nodded, looking back inside. “I think I got some… lemonade or whatever.”

“That would be wonderful.” I had felt safe rejecting Teagan’s offer. Fenris offering a drink was something I couldn’t bring myself to decline. He hated my kind with a passion that led him to violently attack the moment he saw me when he had never met me before. However, we had bonded over problems and fought together to save the Dallas pack and Heath when he had been captured by the witches trying to use the pack for their own means. I had been the one who let him out of the cage, then he had saved me from being taken down by the gas that had rendered Heath vulnerable.

As he went inside to get the lemonade, I realized Heath hadn’t said anything more. I looked at him, and he was moving the patio furniture around so we could sit in the way he would like.

“Does this work for you?” I asked, hoping I hadn’t overstepped.

“This more than works for me,” he said, smiling at me before going back to trying to dust off the table.

I opened up the front door, only peeking in to yell down the hall.

“Can you bring a washcloth or paper towels?”

“Yeah!”

I went to sit down, knowing Heath heard that confirmation as well as I did. When Fenris came out, I took the washcloth from him to finish wiping down the table while he poured each of us a glass of store-bought lemonade.

“So, the pup is off for his vacation, and you’re all sad without your favorite member of the pack, so Heath brought you out to harass the rest of us, huh?”

“You think Dirk is my favorite? I’m engaged to this one.” I nodded towards Heath, who chuckled.

Fenris snorted.

“Heath, I got a question for you.” Fenris sat down, stretching his legs out, but I noticed he didn’t try to put them in our way. Heath did that sometimes, using small things to physically take up space and make people work to get their own. It was really only on display when he was pissed off or needed to posture with another strong werewolf.

“Yes?”

“Landon is your wolf. Teagan, me, Ranger, Shamus… all your wolves? Is Dirk one of your wolves?”

Frowning, I looked between them. Dirk was in the pack. He was one of Heath’s wolves.

“He’s a respectful member of the pack who follows orders and is close to my son on an emotional level. He is Jacky’s wolf,” Heath answered calmly. “I’ve never thought any differently.”

“Yeah, he’s loyal to the pack, but like, we all know if you and Jacky had a falling out, he would stay with Jacky. We’d all leave with you. He and Landon would have to make things work, but he would stay here.”

“Um… that’s interesting to hear, but that doesn’t make him my favorite.” I had never chosen a favorite.

“Kids come before lovers,” Fenris said, smirking. “If you had to save Heath’s life or Dirk’s, we both know the obvious. You try to save both, but let’s be honest… if you had time for one, you would save Dirk.”

“He’s right,” Heath said, shrugging. “And I don’t expect any different nor make a judgment about it. Just like we’d both save Carey before each other.”

“Yeah…” I couldn’t argue with that. Heath had age and experience Dirk didn’t. “Still doesn’t mean he’s my favorite.”

“Okay, let’s take the Alpha you’re fucking out of the equation,” Fenris said, now getting more than a little annoyed with me.

“Okay, then he is,” I concede with a chuckle. “Landon is third. He was second, then Dirk became a werewolf.”

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